Five Flyers will have off-season surgery, general manager Paul Holmgren announced Tuesday _ and that doesn’t include defenseman Chris Pronger, whose back condition is still being evaluated by doctors and isn’t expected to be known until later in the day.

Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted:
Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 12:40 PM

Five Flyers will have off-season surgery, general manager Paul Holmgren announced Tuesday _ and that doesn’t include defenseman Chris Pronger, whose back condition is still being evaluated by doctors and isn’t expected to be known until later in the day.

The GM said Richards dealt with an injured wrist since training camp and that it “inhibited his play in certain aspects - it affected his performance in the faceoff circle and I think it affected his shot.”

Richards, who had one goal in the post-season, has a torn ligament in a wrist. Holmgren did not know which wrist was injured.

Richards sometime seemed emotionally detached this season. He did not make himself available to the media on Monday or Tuesday. He said he will talk on Wednesday.

Holmgren said Richards was a good captain.

“He’s a quiet kid, a reserved kid,” Holmgren said. “He’s a hard gut to talk to sometimes - for anyone, probably even his closest friends. He’s just a quiet guy, but there are no issues with Mike and Peter (Laviolette), or Mike and his teammates.”

A video of Holmgren addressing the Richards situation is embedded below.